21 Roses
by itsabeautifullife
Summary: While Kurt and Blaine recall their last 3 1/2 years together, Kurt gives Blaine an engagement ring. Set after 5x20. Fluff! (and momentary angst).


_I wrote this as a tribute to Klaine and their story in honor of us Klaine fans who will now have to endure a very long hiatus before we can see them again. But I mainly wrote this because I really want to see Kurt give Blaine an engagement ring. And I chose to incorporate the number 21 just for fun - since that's being touted now as Klaine's number. To do that, I had to slip in some way the characters might think 21 is significant, thus the dates - which may be a bit off from canon, but whatever. This story is set after Blaine moves back in with Kurt and Rachel has moved to LA. Its lots of fluff (but an engagement story should be) with momentary angst. Hope you enjoy._

**21 Roses**

Kurt bustled around the kitchen in the loft as he prepared a dinner of baked ziti with Italian sausage, a favorite of Blaine's. He was also trying to bake a carrot cake with vanilla cream frosting, Blaine's favorite dessert, but he wasn't sure he was getting the recipe quite right. Whatever the case, he was putting forth great effort to make this meal special.

He had been planning this for weeks... well, not _this_ exactly, but something. Ever since Blaine had proposed to him a year ago, he had wanted to get him an engagement ring as well. He even picked one out at a local jewelry store in the city, but he just didn't have the money to purchase such a thing. Blaine (and his family) had that sort of money, but not Kurt. However, after some careful saving through extra shifts at the diner and some special project work at Vogue that came with an extra stipend, he had almost saved enough a few weeks ago to finally buy Blaine a ring. His dad then chipped in the remainder he needed.

But once he bought it, he wasn't sure how to present it to Blaine. He couldn't possibly orchestrate the fanfare that Blaine had created for his proposal and he didn't feel the need to do that anyway. They were already engaged, so it would seem silly to make a huge deal out of a second ring. But he did want the moment to be special. Something intimate that only involved the two of them, but something more than just a matter of handing Blaine a ring. He knew Blaine would be happy to receive a ring from Kurt even though they had never discussed it. Blaine wasn't one to expect anything from Kurt in terms of special gifts and was simply happy just seeing Kurt wear the ring he had given him. If the only ring Blaine got was on their wedding day, he'd be perfectly content. Kurt knew that. But still he wanted to get Blaine a ring. He wanted the same joy Blaine had in seeing the man he loved wear a ring that symbolized their plan to marry someday.

So he stewed over ideas on how best to do this. An idea finally came to him one day recently as they were walking together back home from the subway after a full day of classes at NYADA. They walked past a newly blooming set of roses in front of a row of brownstones. Blaine loved roses. So he had to stop to smell them and spent quite awhile doing so. He always did this... he couldn't pass a rose bush without smelling each rose and then commenting on which one he liked the best. As Kurt watched him do this, he smiled to himself as a million memories of their last 3 1/2 years together breezed through his mind. And Kurt was then struck by an idea.

The plan had to involve roses and ideally 21 of them. Blaine had been commenting all year on the fact that the number 21 kept happening in their lives. He had proposed to Kurt last year on April 21st. Blaine had first moved in with Kurt in New York on June 21st. They began their fall quarter of classes at NYADA together on September 21st. And Blaine moved back in with Kurt again just last month on March 21st. Blaine had also declared that the number 21 represented their relationship - "we were once 2 people leading separate lives, but are now a unit planning a lifetime together as 1". Kurt rolled his eyes at Blaine's corniness when he made this comment, as he said, "Honey, you are so sappy, sometimes I think I'm marrying a 9 year old". To that, Blaine only laughed and said, "but you love it when I'm sappy". "That I do," Kurt responded, as he pulled Blaine closer, "and I love _you_". This is all to say, that the amount of roses he knew he had to include was 21. And it had to happen on the one-year anniversary of their engagement ... which, of course, was on April 21st. And Kurt began to formulate a plan.

This week had been busy for them and they hadn't seen each other much. Blaine had been working on a research paper that required some extra evening hours spent in the library. Kurt had been doing some evening shifts at the diner. Even though Blaine now lived with Kurt again in the loft and Rachel had moved out a couple of weeks ago to begin her new venture in Los Angeles, when life got busy and they were rarely home at the same time, they sometimes felt like they were still living apart. The only reminder that they shared an apartment together was at night when one of them slipped into bed beside the other after coming home late.

They had previously decided to have dinner together on their engagement anniversary, but had not made a specific plan. Since he didn't want to tip off Blaine that he was planning something special, he had taken a stance of vagueness and nonchalance about it when he brought it up briefly last week. As Blaine prepared to head out the door for an early morning class, Kurt called to him, "Hey, our engagement anniversary is coming up, should we do something?" "Oh right, yes definitely, we should... I can't believe I didn't think about that," Blaine said as he shook his head, reprimanding himself. "No worries... let's just have dinner or something," Kurt responded. Blaine leaned across the breakfast table to kiss Kurt as he said, "yes, let's do that, it's a date" and smiled as he left the loft.

But since things had become so busy this week and they had scarcely seen each other, nothing more had been said since. So today, the day of their anniversary, Kurt texted Blaine: _We still on for tonight? _Blaine texted right back: _Yes wouldn't miss it._ Kurt: _Ok Ill make something for us at home._Blaine: _Home...I like that word. xo_

So now, Kurt had the ziti in the oven. 21 red roses sat in a vase in the center of the table. He had gathered together several candles from Rachel's stash she had left behind and lit them around the room. The ring was safely in his pocket. All was set. But Kurt was starting to feel a bit nervous. He wasn't sure why. This wasn't an official proposal - they were already engaged. He didn't have the worry that Blaine had when he proposed to Kurt - fear the answer would be no. This was easy. But somehow, Kurt still felt nervous. What if he wasn't eloquent enough or the dinner wasn't very good or the whole thing would seem forced or... oh stop, he told himself. It would be fine. This was Blaine, he would make it fine even if Kurt messed up and became flustered or cried or fainted or who knows. It wasn't possible for the thing to go wrong because it involved Blaine. It would be beautiful whatever happened.

Kurt was lost in these thoughts when the loft door slid open. "Hey, beautiful," came Blaine's voice.

Kurt turned around and smiled as Blaine set his book bag by the door and approached him. "Hi, how was class today?" Kurt asked.

"Ugh, don't get me started on Ms. Steiner's class. She can't seem to assign anything that doesn't involve research and writing."

"Well, it _is_ History of Renaissance Theatre. Pretty heady topic. I went through it last year."

"Maybe I should just copy _your_ papers."

Kurt shot him a look. "Kidding, of course," Blaine responded. "I'll barrel through the work just like everyone else. I just don't like things that take so much of my time away from you."

"I know. I feel like I haven't seen you in days. Crazy."

"Except for last night. There _was_ that." Blaine smiled as he closed the gap between them and kissed Kurt.

"Yes, there was," Kurt smiled into the kiss. Then he pulled away and grabbed a potholder to take the ziti out of the oven as the timer buzzed.

"Wow, that looks incredible." Blaine said, eyeing the ziti. He then looked around the room. "And all this...you really went all out for our date night here." Noticing the roses, he bent over to smell them, making Kurt smile.

"Well, I wanted it to be special, " Kurt said as he pulled out a chair for Blaine at the table.

"And it always is whenever I'm with you."

As they finished dinner and cleared the table, Blaine tried to start washing the dishes, but Kurt waved him off. "No no, forget that. Come here."

He picked up the vase of roses in one hand, took Blaine's hand in the other, and walked him over to the couch. "It looks like we're sitting down now," Blaine observed. "And it seems we need to roses to do it."

"Just come sit down," Kurt softly ordered as he sat the roses on the coffee table and pulled Blaine down to sit next to him. Still holding Blaine's hand, Kurt looked at the roses for a moment, while collecting himself as his nervousness surfaced again.

Blaine noticed Kurt's sudden stillness and asked, "Hey, what's up? Are you ok?"

Kurt looked up at Blaine with a new expression of clarity and resolve. "Yes, I am. I'm very ok. And I have something to say." Now was the time. No more nervousness. This was just Blaine - his Blaine. And he knew he could do this.

Blaine sat up straighter, realizing something more was happening than just a breather on the couch. Kurt began, "We're engaged and planning a lifetime together. And I completely look forward to that life. I can't imagine spending it with anyone but you. You make me _so_ happy and I feel tremendously lucky to have found you." As Kurt briefly paused and took a deep breath, Blaine was tempted to say something, but stopped himself when Kurt continued. "My life changed when I met you. And every day since then has been such a gift, even during the hard stuff, 'cause our relationship has made me grow and feel and dream on levels that I don't think would've happened for me if I had never known you. And I'm so sorry for all the ways I've missed the boat - times when I've been self-absorbed and taken you for granted or dismissed you." Kurt became slightly teary at this last thought and realized he was rambling a bit, so paused and took another deep breath.

Blaine squeezed his hand, as he jumped in, "Kurt, you don't need to apologize for anything."

"But I do and I want to. And I plan to do better." Kurt assured him. But now he realized he needed to get his little speech back on track, so quickly returned to the topic at hand. "But anyway, what I'm trying to say is that I am completely committed to you and what we have and I will never waver from that. I will always love you."

At that, Blaine nodded. "I know that." Blaine had sometimes questioned this in the past, but these last couple of months in New York had removed all of his doubts about Kurt's love for him.

"And as I've thought about our future lately, my mind has been drifting through memories of our past. Memories that have marked so many key moments in our relationship and reminded me of who we are together. Our history, both the highpoints and the struggles, has carried us to where we are now. And that story will feed into our future together. So I wanted to commemorate our story with these roses." Kurt pulled out one of the roses from the vase.

"Oh, that's sweet. I love roses and..."

"One," Kurt interrupted with a smile as he handed the first rose to Blaine. Blaine took it and realized this sweet gesture of Kurt's wasn't quite over as he had thought, so he drew silent to allow Kurt to continue. "The day we first met at Dalton. After that day, I felt like a veil had lifted off me and I could finally appreciate who I was and have the courage to face all the demons that had cloaked my life. You gave that to me." Kurt then took a second rose and handed it to Blaine. "Two. When I transferred to Dalton, I felt like a new beginning had fully come to fruition in my life and I was so happy to be in a place where I could spent every day with you." Kurt took another rose and handed it to Blaine. "Three. Our first duet in that Dalton lounge. You had no idea I had such a crush on you and singing that song with you just about made me faint." Blaine smiled at that and almost said something, but knew his role at this moment was just to listen and he gladly took another rose as Kurt handed it to him. "Four. The moment I apparently moved you with my version of Blackbird." Kurt slightly rolled his eyes. "I still don't get why _that_ song or how my crying like a baby about a dead bird did that to you. But I'm not gonna argue."

Now Blaine had to say something. "I just realized that everything I wanted in a guy could be found in you. I don't know what it was either, maybe my head and heart just finally aligned. But that was an amazing moment for me." Blaine breathed in deeply. "And I knew I had to tell you how I felt."

Kurt looked at Blaine coyly as he handed him another rose. "Which takes me to five. The day you came to me and told me how you felt and we kissed for the first time. I actually thought I was dreaming for a moment." Kurt paused briefly, lost in that memory, but then pulled himself back to the present day. "And now jumping ahead to six." Another rose for Blaine. "Our first prom. When you stood by me amid that horrible prom queen fiasco and took my hand and we danced together in front of the whole school. It was the first time we fully put ourselves out to the world as a couple and didn't care what others thought. And seven. The first time we said I Love You to each other. I knew I loved you long before that. Maybe even the second I met you. But the moment you said it to me, I realized this could really be something very long term."

"I did too actually." Blaine agreed. Kurt gave him an endearing look that instructed him to stop interrupting. "Ok, go ahead... oh, and you forgot my last rose," Blaine said gesturing to the vase of roses sitting next to them.

"Oh right," Kurt took two roses and handed them to Blaine. "And now eight. That day you transferred to McKinley for me. I still can't believe you did that. You are always so willing to sacrifice for me." Blaine leaned in and kissed Kurt quickly, then sat back and smiled, looking at the vase of roses, awaiting for the next one like a puppy might wait for his next treat. He was enjoying this presentation of Kurt's. "You're gonna like this next one." Kurt took a rose and held it a moment as he continued, "Our first time...in your room after opening night of Westside Story." Blaine hadn't blushed yet through all this, but he did now at the mention of that night. "I don't think I need to say much more about that," Kurt said with a knowing look as he gave the rose to Blaine.

"I like rose nine... Maybe that's my new favorite number." Blaine declared with a smile.

"Anyway, ten." Another rose joined the mounting collection in Blaine's hands. "That promise ring. I still have it, by the way. In my dresser. In the same red box. It was incredibly thoughtful of you to make it for me. Even though I couldn't wear it much 'cause its kinda fragile, I still drag it out from time to time when I'm alone here. Even now - I sometimes put it on next to my engagement ring."

"Really? I had no idea you did that." Blaine's response was almost giddy at that knowledge.

"Yep. And eleven." Another rose for Blaine. "This next one might not seem significant, but it was to me. That conversation we had in Mrs. Schue's office toward the end of my senior year. We had hit our first truly rocky spot in our relationship as we struggled to figure out how we might soon live apart. It was sort of a moment of moving into adulthood. Moving away from just high school boyfriends to a more mature relationship that would require real intentionality and commitment to make it work. And I meant what I said that day - that you were never gonna lose me."

"And yet, I did..." Blaine said softly as he looked down at his lap, realizing what period of their timeline they were now approaching.

But Kurt reached out to Blaine's chin and lifted his head up, looking into his eyes intently. "But you _didn't_. We're here, aren't we?" Blaine nodded with a deep breath, resolved to not let his mind be pulled down with thoughts of that difficult phase in their relationship that almost ended everything. He was curious to see where Kurt would take this.

Kurt gave another rose to Blaine as he continued. "Twelve. The day you encouraged me to move to New York. I know that was hard for you 'cause you worried that our separation would pull us apart, but you still put my needs ahead of that. I would've stayed in Lima all year for you."

"But you wouldn't have been happy. I wanted you to live at your full potential and the Lima Bean certainly wasn't gonna do that for you."

"I know. Thank you for pushing me out of the nest."

Kurt paused before reaching for the next rose. He looked down toward his lap and took a deep breath before grabbing a rose and passing it to Blaine. Looking at Blaine, he continued in a voice that was a bit softer than before, "Thirteen... The night we broke up." Blaine's eyes widened a bit. Even though he knew this was coming, he still felt deflated to here Kurt mention it. "It was the most devastating thing that happened to me 'cause it meant I was losing you and all my dreams of what I thought we would have in the future. It felt like I had been slammed into a wall and my heart shattered into pieces. I might even say it was harder than my mom's death, 'cause when she was gone, I still had my dad. When you were gone, I felt like I had nothing." Blaine teared up as Kurt spoke and he wondered how recalling this moment would do them any good in this sweet walk down memory lane. Why was Kurt drudging this up? But Kurt's next words answered that for him. "Even though that was a horrible time, I learned a lot. I realized how I had messed up in our relationship. I realized I couldn't just take you for granted and assume you will always sit by while I focus on myself. So, in a sense, I realized you were human and fallible and imperfect. And, even though I was so angry, deep inside I still knew we could not be broken. And that's what took me to fourteen." Blaine didn't notice until now that he had been holding his breath during Kurt's explanation of rose thirteen and he exhaled at the hope they were now moving on to something a bit easier to hear.

He accepted the next rose from Kurt who continued, "The day I called you on Thanksgiving to wish you good luck at Sectionals. I had once thought I'd never speak to you again, but something had thawed in me a little and I finally felt able to reestablish some sort of relationship with you." Blaine nodded with a slight smile at the memory of that phone call - a call that had saved him from the despair he felt at the possibility of never knowing Kurt again.

Kurt pulled out another rose from the vase that now only held six left. "And after that, we began to communicate again - more phone calls and visits. Your visit that Christmas and our ice skating night. There was a moment I thought you were gonna kiss me at the end of that duet." Blaine's little grin spurred Kurt to ask, "were you?"

"Mmm, maybe... not telling." Blaine said with a playful look at Kurt.

"Anyway, even though I didn't think we should get back together, our contact gave me my best friend back. And then that Valentine's Day and Mr. Shue's wedding. Before...and after. Well...you know."

"Yes, I do. And I know all that didn't mean as much to you as it did to me. I know we were just friends and all, but..."

"We've never been just friends. Even then. And all those conversations during our break up mended my heart and I began to heal. And forgive you. So I'm sorta calling all of that rose fifteen." Kurt handed the rose to Blaine, who took it and began to smell the large handful he now held.

Kurt now took two roses from the vase. "Then we got back together. You prepared the picnic, but I prepared the band 'cause I was already thinking of getting back together with you."

"But you just had to mess with me first with all your 'does true love really exist?' stuff."

Kurt leaned in and quickly kissed Blaine, and continued, "so that was sixteen and now seventeen," as he handed both roses to Blaine. "Your proposal. That was the most amazing moment of my life."

"I was so afraid you'd say no."

"How could I say no to marrying you? And eighteen. You in New York. And you moving in here. And I don't mean the first time, but the second time. Just a month ago. It feels so right now. After all we've been through. These past several months in New York have broadened us and matured us and our relationship is so solid now. I feel even more committed to you than I did when I accepted your proposal. And we'll just keep getting stronger."

Blaine beamed to hear this from Kurt as he accepted one more rose. Then he noticed there were still three roses left in the vase. "And what are those for?"

"Nineteen." Kurt handed Blaine the next rose as he knelt down in front of him. "Is right now." Blaine gave Kurt a sideways confused look. Then his eyes grew bigger as he realized what Kurt might mean. "I have always loved you and I always will. No matter what happens to us or what we do or where life takes us, I am completely dedicated to what we have. I finally get that now. And I understand what that means." Kurt looked at the ring on his finger. "I love wearing this," he said almost more to himself than to Blaine, temporarily distracted in his thoughts. He then pulled his thoughts back to Blaine as he looked at him and took his hand. "It's a reminder of our future. And I want you to have that too."

"I don't need anything to remind me of my future. I just have to look at you for that."

"Yes well, that may be," Kurt pulled the ring out from his pocket and held it out to Blaine, "I still want you to have this. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Blaine. So will you please marry me?" Blaine jumped forward and hugged Kurt as Kurt said into Blaine's shoulder, "I know we're already engaged and all and you don't absolutely need a ring, but..."

"Thank you, Kurt," Blaine said as he pulled away and looked at Kurt intently. "I love it. And I love you."

After Kurt put the ring on him, Blaine couldn't stop staring at it until Kurt thrust another rose at him and moved to sit back down on the couch. "Twenty. Our wedding. In the future, whenever that'll be. It'll be beautiful and I already have all kinds of ideas. Canopies and cafe lights and lanterns. I saw in Modern Bride magazine these small glass terrariums that hang down just above the tables with clusters of forget-me-nots inside. They looked so elegant. I want to do that. And the chairs _have_ to be white iron. That'll look classy with the ice sculptures..."

Blaine had to interrupt Kurt, "you've already been thinking about all this?"

"Blaine, I've been thinking about this since I was ten."

Blaine rolled his eyes with the thought that he may have a groomzilla on his hands. But he didn't care. It was Kurt. He'd endure any wedding planning as long as the end result was marrying Kurt.

"Ok, ok, the last one. Twenty-one." Blaine accepted the final rose, and smiled at the realization that Kurt had actually planned exactly twenty-one roses. "The rest of our life together. Whatever that may include. Careers, a house, kids. I want it all. And I want it all with you."

Blaine was a teary mess at this, as he responded, "I want all that too...And Kurt, this was amazing. Thank you." Looking at the ring on his left hand, he announced, "I love this." He then took one of the roses from his hand and held it out to Kurt, "For my one true love." Kurt accepted it, as he pulled Blaine in for a kiss.


End file.
